Coast farmer wants a husband

JUST how did the local boys let Sunshine Coast beef producer Maree Duncombe slip through their fingers?

The unlucky-in-love hinterland “farmer” Maree is the latest local resident to take their quest for love to popular television series The Farmer Wants a Wife.

Stunning 28-year-old Maree, who appears in the latest TV Week, single-handedly owns and manages 800 head of cattle on her own 1000ha property.

The sometime beauty therapist can muster cattle, dehorn a calf, operate a tractor and fix a fence.

She also claims to more than hold her own in one of the most difficult and traditionally male-dominated fields of farming.

So why hasn’t Maree been snapped up, as one of her new fans on the series website asked?

“I don’t tend to do the going out thing on a regular basis, so I find it hard meeting a man,” Maree said.

“I’ve had my heart broken twice by one man. We’ve moved on. He is now married with a baby and it’s something I would like in my life.”

Maree, one of 12 farmers in the latest series, said life as a beef producer consisted of buying young cattle and then selling them off to butchers, which meant a lot of her time was spent at cattle yards.

She said she dreamed of getting married and having a baby but if it was not on the cards then life on the farm was pretty fantastic.

“I’m hoping to meet my future husband,” she said, adding that series one Tamworth farmer Chris Newsome was an inspiration with his subsequent marriage and new baby.

Maree said she was no fan of “pretty boys”, preferring instead a rugged man.

“Men look good when they’re looking a bit dirty, you know, with the regrowth and the jeans and shirt,” she said.

The 28-year-old said she wants a man aged between the mid 20s and mid 30s who was independent, “lives” his life and who made her laugh.